Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Z100 Plays Cruel Deathly Hallows Prank

The NYC radio station Z100 apparently has inside information that advance copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows are in bookstores right now. The only problem is that it’s not true. Imagine my amusement (and confusion) as I started my day shift at Barnes & Noble and fielded phone calls from hopeful customers wanting to know if we have Deathly Hallows. I almost thought it was the first of April instead of the fourth but in a way, it was. I kept assuring customers that this was a prank and it was actually quite sad disappointing those callers. They should have used common sense before believing anything that the radio station said. Here are three reasons why anyone should be skeptical of such announcements:

The book is supposed to come out July 21, 2007. There is a reason why release dates are set and for a Harry Potter novel, there are no deviations.

Every Harry Potter novel's release has operated on a mode of secrecy and security to ensure that no fan will be spoiled before the release date. Now if this is the case for the previous novels, how much more so for the very last Harry Potter novel ever.

Are we to believe that 12 million copies (U.S. initial print run) of Deathly Hallows have been printed already? The covers were just released last Wednesday!

Now if the book did come out today, I would have run off to Receiving and grabbed my own copy in a heartbeat. The truth is that many listeners and callers are going to be angry. One of my coworkers even wanted to call the station, telling them to stop. Cruel pranks like these disappoint many fans who simply cannot wait to get their hands on the novel. Whatever the case 'New York's Hit Music Station' has a great deal of explaining to do.